Osmo: Pioneering Long-Distance Scent Transmission

Smell transmission, this sounds like a concept from a science fiction novel, it sounds too unreal, but now it is no longer just a concept. Osmo, an AI startup based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is developing "smell transmission" technology, which helps to transmit "smells" from one place to another.

Being able to smell the fragrance of lilies growing near your childhood home, experiencing the smell of old paint and plaster while visiting the Sistine Chapel, and then sharing this scent with your loved ones at home, this is the concept that Osmo wants to achieve.

How is this achieved?

Osmo's smell transmission process embodies the vision of capturing, analyzing, and replicating smells using environmentally friendly molecules. First, sensors detect the smell, which is then analyzed by a processor. Subsequently, a dedicated printer about the size of a refrigerator combines the smells to accurately replicate the fragrance. This process allows smells from distant places, such as lavender fields in California, to reach a laboratory in New York.

Although they can now achieve this for many smells, the current process involves manual intervention at each step. Their solution involves capturing the smell, analyzing it using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and using Osmo's AI and smell maps to generate replicable formulas. Finally, a dedicated device is used to print the smell, making the entire process smoother.

Former Google "Brain" Researcher

Osmo's founder and CEO, Alex Wiltschko, has years of research experience and served as a research scientist at Google Brain for nearly 6 years. Wiltschko holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. "When we succeed, we will bring smell into the digital age and fully automate the collection of large-scale data for this new computational paradigm," Wiltschko said.

The company is committed to the vision of "giving computers a sense of smell to improve human health and well-being." Interestingly, ten years ago, as part of an April Fool's joke, Google released "Google Nose," which helped users search for smells. Although it was just a joke, today we are on the verge of turning it into reality!